What're you reading?

[sweet_sparrow]

I'm curious, what's everyone reading right about now?

I'm currently doing some more of my university course prep reading because "Read this small section of the book" means "read the whole book" to me. (I mean, if you're not going to read the whole thing, what's the point?)

I've recently finished up Two Medieval Outlaws by Glyn Burgess, which translates two romances about outlaws and which was a lot of fun. I've also finished up The Alliterative Morte Arthure, which just proves, again, that I don't get along with medieval texts and am staring at The Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur before delving into Malory's more well-known Le Morte d'Arthur.

In between I've been reading The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett (well, I was until I finished it. ^-~) It was a lot of fun. Now I know why I've seen comments along the lines of "Austen, but with magic!" and the like. It's, obviously, more nuanced than that (and certainly not like, say, Pride and Prejudice and ZombiesThe Harp of the Grey Rose by Charles de Lint and I also need to reread Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising at some point so I can take notes and figure out if I can get enough out of the book to write an essay on it. And I should really, really pick up Kay's The Last Light of the Sun some time soon. I promised a friend to read it ages ago. >> Plus there's the group read too...

(Oh, and I should be rereading Shakespeare for that course too. I have too many books...)

So... what're you reading this month? ^-~

Comments

[psyche29]

So...am I allowed to just jump in here? I'm not sure of the protocol when diving into something new, but as I've made the decision to try to make new friends around DW, I thought responding here would be a good start.

I am currently reading Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater (Frank Bruni) and rereading Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Maggie Stiefvater). I also have From the Kingdom of Memory (Elie Wiesel), The Golden Compass (Philip Pullman) and The Love of a Good Woman (Alice Munro), which I need to read soon because they're due back at the library in a week.

Waiting for me on hold at the library, too, are The Screwtape Letters (CS Lewis) and City of Glass (Cassandra Clare).

I'm making my way through my book list, but veeeeeerrrrrrry slowly.

EDIT: I LOVE Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence! Just saying. :)

[sweet_sparrow]

Of course you're allowed to jump straight in! ^-^

Multi-book reader! XD *only reads at most two books at a time, and that not often*

How're the fey portrayed in Lament? (On the one hand, the book is interesting. On the other, I'm developing an allergy for fey that don't feel, well, fey but human.)

This is going to be my second/third read-through depending on the book I'll be reading since I have to backtrack the reread I'd already started.

(*has comment suckage at the moment* Sorry...)

[psyche29]

*snickers* A lot of the time, my multi-book-reading is one new book and several different re-reads...and I have to be careful, because I love fanfic and can end up blending elements in my head that aren't really canon, though I suppose that's mostly Harry Potter-related.

Lament - I really liked it; the reread is more because when I like a book, I tend to rush through reading it to see what happens, and end up missing clues or not making a connection that I might otherwise have made if I'd been able to slow down. The fey don't seem too human to me in this particular portrayal - they seem mischievous and a bit carelessly cruel, as I think they probably should. And they're devious things. ;)

...Which book are you having to backtrack a reread on?

:)

[sweet_sparrow]

*bemused* It happens. ^-^ (I'm currently reading a short story about a Roman soldier named Severus. Guess what my brain does. ^-~)

Oooh, that's good to hear. ^-^ I've got Ballad on my wishlist (hush. it appeals more), but I'm so easily annoyed at not getting 'my way' with fairies right now that I'm hesitant to pick up or buy anything new.

Hm? Oh, sorry... I thought it'd be clearer. ^-^; The Dark Is Rising Sequence. I might (big might) write an essay on it for one of my classes. I'd started a more seasonally-fitting reread (OSUS in summer, TDIS in winter, etc) and was waiting for the weather to be good Greenwitch-reading weather. But now I've got to backtrack again and take notes from the start. ^-^

(And, er, finish up the books I still haven't read for class and reread the Shakespeare ones for that class... Gah!)

[psyche29]

LOL! And here I thought Severus was a made-up name for the HP books! I think I'd be slipping into Snape visualizations, too!

I want to pick up Ballad, too; I'll be putting a hold on it with the library in a few weeks. I want to read James' story, and am curious about the special school.

OH. Duh - apparently, my brain is on hiatus and failed to inform me of its imminent departure. It's SO fired when it gets back. *rolls eyes* A seasonally-fitting read! What a cool idea, though I must admit I couldn't wait like that. I read OSUS and was hooked. I had accumulated and read the remaining four volumes within three weeks...payday was obviously a factor there. I'd be interested in the essay if you write it, and even just in your thoughts on the sequence - what you liked, what you didn't, what stuck with you.

[sweet_sparrow]

I've no idea if the name's got any historical basis, to be honest. (I assume so, but my knowledge of Roman [army] culture is sketchy at best.)

... I thought it was a stand-alone... I want it to be a stand-alone...

*bemused* Brains do that from time to time. Mine refuses to let itself get fired, though. I flew through the books on my first read a few years back, too! I've been meaning to reread The Dark Is Rising around midwinter ever since. (That book is just too easy to time.) And then I'd already read OSUS in summer and I figured I might as well try reading the lot of them seasonally. (Except that I've forgotten what season the last two books are set in.) I'd happily recommend reading the first two seasonally, though. OSUS is a real summer book and the darker gloomier winter timing does add a lot to TDIS.

Eh, I'm not great with essays. I don't think anyone but my tutors has ever seen any. You'd just bang your head against the desk and wonder what I was doing at university. My thoughts on the books can be found here, though. I've been wanting to do single-book babbling for a while since discussing them all as a whole briefly. ^-^ I doubt I'll rereview OSUS and TDIS in so short a time period, but the other three'll follow once I've reread them. ^-^